I'm doing a sale on fab.com tomorrow. I know Nervous System did a sale with them already and according to the people at Fab it went really well.

Check out my sale (DESiGNERiCA -- tomorrow) and the site as a whole... i know there are others of you out there who will love the site and who knows, maybe i'll see some more shapeways creations there in the future...?

thanks for the advise... it really has been difficult, i realize that i need to have my items printed and photographed to get more exposure but i really can't afford it...

it is kinda the same way with etsy. they charge by listing and even though it isn't much i can't really justify that expense unless i know that it is guaranteed sales... there again i need to print my designs to sell them.

i really do like designerica's designs but i was wondering, does etsy consider 3d printing "hand made" ?

i think that i am going to have to break down and print out some of my designs.

definitely etsy. it generates its own customers BUT... it comes off as a little unprofessional because by concept it's about crafters not designers.

i'm going to have my own site built soon (when my designer/brother finishes his current project). i'll probably continue to keep the etsy shop going, but i won't give that address out or link to it on my website.

i rarely sell anything on shapeways or ponoko. i haven't really tried much else. the problems with selling directly on shapeways are many:
1) the interface is really difficult to use
2) there is a serious saturation of similar products. in a sea of 3d printed products, it's very hard to stand out.
3) it seems like most of the people on it are designers rather than shoppers
4) there is no opportunity for post-production. i can't have orders diverted to me for finishing and then ship them to the customer.

if i were shapeways, i'd make two entirely different portals- one for shoppers and one for designers. yes, it's one company. but it's also inherently two different services. it's too much to deal with all at once. ponoko has #1 figured out little better, but #2 and #3 still apply.

i totally agree with you on all 4 topics. although i kinda like number 4 the way it is.one of the reasons that i liked shapeways is that if i wanted that i could just make money off my designs and not have to do the post production.

i really like the idea of a separate "portal" shop for selling. the shapeways site design is so homogenized that there is little to differentiate between looking at the uploads section and the shops section. this also leads into the ease of shopping discussion. i would love to see it such that a customer doesn't have to sign in before they can purchase an object. the less clicks between choosing an object and them recieving it the better.

other things that i think that would help with what you are saying- develop some sort of guild system where several designers can get together and collaborate exclusively and exchange ideas and designs. this could easily foster a following and deter overlapping designs. also this might foster collaborative marketing- where say a group can pool its money together to purchase advertising or divide and conquer to individuals strengths. say if one member has a bazillion FB friends and another has a million followers on twitter and another has a successful secondlife storefront- we could all play to our strengths and "advertise" the guild- bringing in numerous potential new customers.

anyways i think that you said it very matter of factually and to the point. there are several other ways that i think would help but i will take that to the website forum so that i won't pollute this tread anymore.

I'm assuming the ceramics are competitor supplied? I can't wait for it's return so I can get my yet to be finished model ordered in it. Have you seen both sets of ceramic (competitor and SW)? If so how do they compare?

I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me. -Maya Angelou
michael@shapeways.com Community Advocate

Ah mass production. Nice. I was wondering if the stamp on the bottom was post production or before firing. Would be awesome if that were possible when ceramic comes back. Also would be great if the roughness and porosity you mentioned is solved.

I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me. -Maya Angelou
michael@shapeways.com Community Advocate